Beauharnois Ice Track

We should be thankful that all of the founding fathers of trackchasing are from the eastern half of the country………….more in “The Details”.

You deserve it you know…………more in “The Details”.

Beefing up………….more in “The Details”.

You don’t really think of Canada as a foreign country do you? ……..more in “The Details”.

I’m willing to pay to be an early adapter………….more in “The Details”.

French.  Just French.……..details in “Race Review”.

There’s always a first at every track I visit.

……..details in “Race Review”.

The ice racing season is almost over and it just started……..details in “Race Review”.

BBQ on a frozen lake.

We should be thankful that all of the founding fathers of trackchasing are from the eastern half of the country.

I woke up this morning in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  I went to bed on Sunday night in Manchester, New Hampshire.  The next day I boarded a plane from Boston to Los Angeles.  Ultimately, I hit the hay at home in San Clemente at about 4 a.m. Tuesday morning Eastern Time.

Let’s think about this.  Sunday’s racing wrapped up at about 4 p.m.  I started heading back to San Clemente at that time.  It was a cold and snowy 321-mile drive from the ice track to the airport in Boston.  I stopped along the way in New Hampshire to overnight.  Then from Boston to Los Angeles my airplane covered 2,567 miles getting me back to sunny SoCal.  Nothing went wrong with my travel schedule getting me back home.  It just TAKES that long.  Using only Eastern times, the race ended at 4 p.m. on Sunday and I got home at 4 a.m. on Tuesday.  We should be thankful that all of the founding fathers of trackchasing are from the eastern half of the country?  Have they ever gone to a Sunday afternoon race and gotten home on Tuesday morning?

Beefing up.

No, I’m not trying to eat more.  That just comes naturally.  I’ve decided to try to beef up the quality of my hotel partners in 2014.  I use Motel 6 as a default for pricing.  If I can find something better for about the same price I’ll go with that.  I’m not talking about getting a Super 8 or some small independent for the same price as Motel 6.  I’m talking something of the Marriott or Sheridan quality.  Who wouldn’t want a Marriott for the price of a Motel 6.

Before I went to today’s race I didn’t know how long it might take to drive back to Boston given the ever changing weather conditions.  I also didn’t necessarily want to stay in the Boston area itself due to congestion and expense.

To insure I had a room I made a reservation at a Motel 6 in Nashua, New Hampshire (about an hour north of Boston) for $54.  Later as my plan firmed up I knew where I would be on Sunday afternoon and also understood the weather forecast.

It doesn’t take much encouragement to use Priceline.

That encouraged me to go to Priceline.com (after consulting with www.biddingfortravel.com) to find a better hotel value than the Motel 6 in Nashua.  How did I do?  Pretty well.

I was able to get the Springhill Suites by Marriott hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire (about 20 miles north of my original planned overnight location in Nashua).  I paid just $45 for the night.  The hotel’s best rate on their website was $106 U.S.  Remember all prices I quote are excluding taxes.

Let’s compare.

So right off the bat $45 for a Springhill Suites property was better price value than $54 for a Motel 6.  However, a Springhill Suites (SS) property is light years ahead of a Motel 6 in non-price amenities.  SS offers free internet.  SS provides a complimentary hot breakfast.  Springhill Suites offers, as you might have guessed, a suite!  My suite had two flat screen TVs, a microwave, fridge and a separate room with sofa and work desk.

Heck, when I checked in I reminded the clerk (I always try to be helpful) that I was a “Platinum Elite” in Marriott’s frequent stay program.  And even though I had paid through Priceline, Marriott normally gives me the same amenities I would get if I had paid full price.  This meant I could get additional Marriott frequent stay points or a complimentary “Market item” from the hotel store.  I chose a can of Pringles (former P&G brand) for the long ride back to Los Angeles from the store.

You deserve it you know.

Certainly not everyone is capable and/or interested in going trackchasing.  I get that.  However, most folks will venture out sooner or later on that vacation of a lifetime or weekend trip.  If and when you do you might want to use some of the ideas I share with you in just about every Trackchaser Report.  If you don’t you might end up at a Motel 6 when you could have done better.  You deserve it you know.

Since I overnighted in Quebec last night that meant I would be using my Garmin GPS unit.  I prefer using my iPhone GPS but a data plan didn’t seem worth the cost to make it work in a foreign country.  As you can see my Garmin shows me parked out in the middle of lake.  Why?  Because I was!

You don’t really think of Canada as a foreign country do you?

Speaking of foreign countries there is no way that MOST of Canada should be considered a foreign country.  Yes, they have Tim Horton’s and we have Duncan Donuts.  But everything else is pretty much the same….except for Quebec.

These folks truly are foreigners.  They speak French and don’t deviate from that virtually at all.  Today all of the announcing was done in French.  Most of the conversations I heard were in French.  I don’t speak French or any other foreign language.  Despite my lack of linguistic education I have never started in a non-English speaking country.

The wintertime really kills the roads up in these parts.  Despite the ice and snow on the highways there was still a good deal of pothole activity.  Actually it was a real minefield.

After the races……

Not the gas mileage I was expecting.

I’m the silver Sonata with the Virginia license plate.  During the last two hours of my six hour drive back to the hotel it began to snow.  Having grown up in Illinois I understand driving in snow.  However, I doubt that anyone driving 60 M.P.H. on the interstate in those conditions should have been driving that fast.

When I stopped for my final gas stop I noticed how very slippery the roads were.  On the surface streets driving just 25 M.P.H. was treacherous.

I ended up driving my Kia Optima HYBRID rental car 971 miles in the three days I had it.  The car gave me a somewhat disappointing 34.6 M.P.G.  However there are two reasons for that.  While at the ice races on Saturday night I sat in the car with the engine running (off and on) for more than an hour just to keep warm.  Then I read a story in USA Today saying there were several reasons that hybrid cars get far worse mileage during the winter.  They estimated as much as a 30-35% reduction in mileage in the cold.

Keep it down; were you raised in a barn?

I don’t have a lot of patience for travelers who make a lot of noise.  Some of that can’t be helped.  There’s a lot of spicy food out there!  However, people who talk loudly using their cellphones in quiet areas should be locked up.  Today a rather refined middle-aged woman was playing the audio of a program from her laptop.  Get a headset lady!

I don’t want programs used by the masses.

I have been telling you for years how valuable the TSA pre-check program is.  Now, TSA wants to expand the program to the masses.  Not trying to be an elitist but I don’t like being party to programs for the masses.  Where’s the advantage in that?  As I surveyed the people in the TSA Pre-Check line today at the Boston airport (and waiting in the longest line ever for pre-check) I concluded the program is not as exclusive as I would like it to be.  It is likely to get worse.

I’m willing to pay to be an early adapter.

I am what is called an “early adapter”.  Much of this comes from the encouragement of son J.J.  I want to get the newest fastest stuff first.  I was one of the first to use computers and have a cellphone.  I was one of the first to routinely use DVRs and GPS units.  I want to gleefully embrace all kinds of technology that makes my life easier and more enjoyable.  However, when everybody begins to do it, which with all good ideas they will, I want to jump on the next “early adapter” program.

Beauharnois Ice Track – Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada

Was there no place to park on this huge foreign lake?

My TCSP ice trackchasing totals now number 73.  I guess every one of those places stands out in one way or the other.  What is most notable about the racing at the Beauharnois Ice Track?

It was the crowds!  Temps were in the high teens.  However, with no wind it didn’t feel all that cold.  Just before I drove onto the ice I encountered two beautiful French speaking Canadian women.  I paid them $5 Canadian for admission onto the frozen lake.  Then I asked them if they would mind me taking their photo.  From the above you can see they were more than willing to oblige.

The flat oval ice track was fairly close to shore.  I could see that spectators were parked in their cars almost entirely circling the oval track.  It was also easy to see the pit area was located beyond turns three and four of the oval.

I turned left at the track’s turn three and headed down the backstretch.  Surely there would be room for one more Virginia licensed Kia Optima wouldn’t there?  I drove slowly on the snow covered frozen lake.  I always find it amazing, in situations like this, that all of these people are parked on just 15-20” of ice over maybe 20 feet of ice cold water!

I kept driving and looking for a place to park.  I had now rounded turns one and two driving in a clockwise direction.  Still no spots.  Now I was driving past the front straight.  There was NO place to park; every spot was taken.  I was going to have to “squeeze in”.

Squeezing in would be easier between two cars that didn’t have anyone in them.  Finally, I found an opening and slipped in.  From this parking position, which was behind the officials on ice trailer, it was difficult to see any of the racing.  That was O.K.  I would be wandering around most of the day since the weather was more than reasonable.

French.  Just French.

All of the P.A. announcements were in French.  They were even carrying the track’s commentator broadcast over a local FM radio station.  That was a good idea.  Fans could listen to the broadcast in the comfort of their cars.

When I walk over a frozen lake for any period of time it’s important to watch where I am stepping.  It’s very easy to slip on the glare ice.  I find it much easier walking on the ice that is partially snow-covered.  You had better have some well insulated shoes as well if you want to stand on a block of ice for two hours.

The automobile ice racers were not the only people using the lake.  There were tens of ice fisher people in their winter ice fishing huts.  That was also a good deal of snowmobile activity on the snow-covered lake.

I would estimate the track was maybe ½-mile in length.  The ring of spectators around the track might have approached ¾-mile in distance.  Fans at events like this can simply walk into the pit area.  I still don’t understand how ice racing fans and U.K. racing fans can roam the pits at no charge.  Then your weekly Saturday night oval track need to charge 2-3 times the regular admission price for the privilege of touring the pit area.

Big ‘ems and little ones.

There were two classes of cars (from my understanding) racing today.  The first was the smaller four-cylinder powered compact cars.  Then there was nearly an equal amount of the big V-8 powered rear-wheel drive stock cars.

There’s always a first at every track I visit.

There were two cars that made a particular impression on me.  The first had something I had never seen in my previous 1,932 trackchasing visits.  It’s always amazing to find something I’ve never seen before.

A small compact car with the #33 on its side was the culprit.  The car’s body was painted white.  The car number and sponsor lettering etc. was in green.  You’re probably saying a green and white car isn’t too unusual.  That would be correct.  However, all of the “green” on the car was GRASS!  That’s right it looked like sod but it might have been Astroturf.  Take a look at the picture and help me decide.  This was a first for me!

Anger management.

The other off the wall observance was with one of the big stock cars.  For some reason the owner/driver was upset about something.  I believe he was a native French speaker but he swore in English.  I couldn’t figure out what he was so mad about.  I went about my way touring the pit area while this man continued to rant.

In a few minutes I was passing by this driver’s pit area.  Apparently he had decided to call it a day.  I heard him revving his engine loading.  He was preparing to drive his car up some ramps and into his racecar hauler.  With a running start up he went.  That’s when, for whatever reason, the left front tire fell over just before he made it into the trailer!  It fell underneath the car and everything came to a halt.  The owner/driver was more than short on patience.  One might even think an anger management class might be in order.  When the driver got out of his car to survey the newly created damage he was hot!  I decided to vacate the area and seek calmer waters.

Ice picks generate lots of ice spray.

In ice racing, more so with studded racing tires, the cars eat up the ice and generate a good deal of ice spray.  Today there were about ten cars in each race.  The leader would generate a strong cloud of ice spray for his trailing fellow competitors.  By the time the fifth and sixth place cars came around visibility was nearly zero.  That would have been fun to race in!

The ice racing season is almost over and it just started!

Overall, it was a very good day on the ice.  The weekend added four tracks to my totals.  In the middle of February you can’t beat that.  I’m thinking I have one more ice racing weekend before I wrap up that type of racing in 2014.

The ice racing season is short.  Most groups schedule races beginning in January and ending during the last part of February.  However, it is quite common for ice racing bodies to have to cancel their first 2-3 weekends of scheduled racing in January because of lack of ice.  Then sometimes the last weekend of February or more will be canceled by warmer than expected weather.  With such a limited time frame I am a bit surprised that a Southern California boy can amass some 73 ice racing hits.

PROVINCE COMPARISONS

Quebec

The La Belle Province

This afternoon and evening I saw my 23rd lifetime tracks in the La Belle province, yes the La Belle province.  It’s not that easy getting trackchasing information out of Quebec because of the language barrier.  Nevertheless, I enjoy it up here.  Heck, I might even come here next weekend!

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member

Quebec sayings:  Where is the restroom? – Où sont les toilettes?

QUICK FACTS

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Houston, TX (IAH) – 1,382 miles

Houston, TX (IAH) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 942 miles

Chicago, IL (ORD) – Baltimore, MD (BWI) – 600 miles

RENTAL CAR #1

Baltimore-Washington International Airport – trip begins

Trenton, New Jersey

Kahnawake, Quebec

Beauharnois, Quebec

Logan (Boston) International Airport – trip ends – 971 miles

AIRPLANE

Boston, MA (BOS) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,567 miles

Total air miles – 5,491 (4 flights)

Total rental car miles – 971 (1 car)

Total miles traveled on this trip – 6,462 miles 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Sun National Bank Center – $34 (plus $10 parking)

Kahnawake Marina Ice Track – $5 Canadian

Beauharnois Ice Track – $5 Canadian

Total racetrack admissions – about $44 U.S.

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are:

Total lifetime tracks seen

Total “trackchasing countries” seen

Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

Total Lifetime Tracks

There are no trackchasers currently within 375 tracks of my lifetime total.  Don’t blame me.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,933

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 68

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.96

That’s all folks!  Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report